"Phillip K. Dick, the late schizoid Sci-Fi author and Ira (The Unicorn) Einhorn, sixties radical activist turned seventies New Age networker cum fugitive axe murderer, began a correspondence in early February of '78 centered around Dick's firmly held (on shaky ground) belief that the Russians were beaming psychotronic transmissions via satellite into his already somewhat disturbed mind.

According to Dick--often known for his far-out flights of paranoiac fancy--these "micro-wave boosted telepathic transmissions," as he called them, commenced on March 20, 1974, showering Dick with endless reams and streams of visual and audio data. Initially, this overpowering onslaught of messages Phil reluctantly received were extremely unpleasant and, as he termed them, "die messages.""

I thought Counter Clock world really got going near the end. The stuff with the LSD gas and all that. I'm reading Lies. Inc right now and it's totally insane. It's a revised version of the Unteleported Man, but I never read that one so I don't know how much he changed it.

I've been dipping into the collected short stories for the last couple of months. "Upon The Dull Earth"really sticks in my mind for its phantastic weidrness - an almost Lovecraftian tale of demon summoning, drenched in blood!

I've just read "Holy Quarrel" this morning where a self aware defence supercomputer (on a mission from God!) orders a nuclear strike on Sacramento to rid the world of the Devil - who it believes to be a geriatric gumball salesman! Of course they dismantle all the computers and then the gumballs start multiplying...! CLASSIC WACKINESS!!

No one showing any love for 'The World Jones Made'? It's one of his earlier novels from 1956. Precognitive post-nuclear messiahs, engineered mutants, hermaphrodite sex in drug-fuelled nightclubs...what more do you want?

Melbourne, Orstraylya, I love Orstraylyia, it's mai favourite place in the world besides California!

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TIME OUT OF JOINT - FANTASTIC!
RADIO FREE ALBEMUTH - GREAT!
SCANNER DARKLY - WILD!
MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE - AWESOME,

But 'Do ANDROIDS' is still the best becuase of it's neo-hardboiled noir style, it's great ending, and of course the Blade Runner influence...Conceptually and stylisitically its DICK's best I reckon, though HIGH CASTLE is pretty incredible too.. 'TIme out of Koint' is basically THE blueprint for all those Matrix, 'hidden reality' type films, full stop.

I've read about 7 or 8 of his books and from my own experience and other people I talk to, Radio Free Albemuth is probably the single most necessary read. it just sucks you into its world of conspiratorial logic and does not let go... it's a state beyond paranoia, and like all great art (I'm saying this without too much thought) it makes it clear that "normal" people are the delusional ones.

thanks for this list. all ive read is do androids sleep..., 3 stigmata..., and a collection of short stories.

while the first two have been mentioned heavily, i would like to say i really enjoy his short stories (esp on the pot), and feel this is one of the greatest mediums for science fiction.

also, to anyone who like PKD, i would highly recommend Last and First Men & Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon. 2 books combined into one, and the second was kind of a sequel to the first, but written many years later.
Last & First men starts off between WWI and WWII, and takes human history through millions of years after that showing how humanity goes through various changes, ultimately destroying itself every time. Star Maker is the same idea, on a much grander scale, taking all of the universe through all of time from the view of one star traveller.

A Scanner Darkly captures drugbrain logic very well. The passage where they get rumbled as addicts because they cannot work out the fundamentals of how a bicycle works is funny.
Valis is bonkers, but compelling at the same time, like a tripped out Da Vinci code.
A Maze of Death - some great ideas in there, the protoplasmic blob factories have stuck with me. Suitably dark ending as well.

Must pick up Radio Free Albemuth...

Good to hear props for Olaf Stapledon, I happened to buy First and Last Men over the weekend after years of not quite doing so. Had never heard of Starmaker though, cheers.

Jack Vance on PKD

I wasn't sure where to put this one but I just found this site with Jack Vance's answers to fans' questions and on this page he mentions meeting Philip K Dick. I expect some of you might be interested.

Here's the meat of it:

Look at Phil Dick. Phil Dick, besides being an awfully clever writer, he got the credentials of being crazy- he became big… there was a big clique around him.
For my taste, he was too batty, too sarcastic, too sardonic, negative.. and yet, some of his stuff was just insanely funny.. but he was not a person I could relate to, at all..

(John V. : Did you meet him?)

Oh, yeah, sure..

(John V.: Did you know him well?)

Not intimately, but fairly well..

(John V.: Did you meet him at parties, in that way?)

I don’t remember, to tell you the truth.
When I first met him, he was kind of meek, quiet, I didn’t think he was going anywhere… then the last time I saw him, Poul and I were invited over to a party over in Marin county, by some woman, didn’t serve us anything, didn’t even serve wine! Anyway, Phil Dick came storming in there, crazy as a coot, didn’t acknowledge either me or Poul, stomped through, stomped out, did some other things while he was there, I forget what now. That was the last time I saw him.. wearing a cape, big boots, swaggering through… the difference between that guy and the guy that I first knew.. where did I meet him, at Scott Meredith’s office, or Anthony Boucher’s house?.. this quiet, modest, little nondescript fellow.. the difference between that guy, and the guy that came stomping through that party, you know, swaggering, like a big pirate, with a big cloak, big boots, not waving a cutlass at all, but just swaggering through there.. by this time, he had his reputation.. he was on drugs, dope, crazy or something.. He was a clever son of a gun.

There was a fellow named Avram Davidson, married a women named Gronya, she divorced him, ultimately, a nice lady, we liked her.. she married Dick, and they lived, oddly enough, rented a house out in East Oakland, by some coincidence, or chance, owned by Ali Szantho...